My filly is 3wks old and has had a strong kick reflex since before she stood for the first time after birth. She’s also very standoffish. She hasn’t had a negative human experience per se. After birth she didn’t have a suckle reflex for about 3hrs and mom (a maiden) didn’t want to let her leave her chest/face to even attempt to nurse so we had to ace mom and help baby find the milk bar. But aside from that she’s had zero reason to fear people. Anytime you enter the stall she runs to hide behind mom. if you approach her then she whirls to stick her butt to you. If you reach out to touch her she’ll usually launch herself away. If you’re leading mom and baby and attempt to put a hand on the filly’s back then she flat out tries to kick you. She’s gotten slightly better about approaching people but if you make any sudden moves or move too fast for her liking then she flinches away. Her mom doesn’t help matters what with being highly dramatic/neurotic. If I tie mom up in the stall so she has to stand still and I sit in the middle of the stall then the filly is starting to approach out of curiousity and is starting to sniff me, my clothes, let me brush her, etc. But without fail, when you first enter the stall or approach her she runs and hides and keeps her butt towards you. How do I get her to come around and start acting more friendly? How can I nip this kicking business in the bud before she gets larger/stronger? She leads fine, but if you try to touch her while leading that’s when she tries to double barrel or cow kick you. Do I “kick” her back or do foals even understand punishment at this stage in the game? This is my first foal and it’s disheartening to have one that wants nothing to do with me. Any advice is welcome.
Just keep working on it. Hang out with her and when she does come up to you, lots of patting/ rubbing/ scratching. Figure out what she likes, and just do that for a while.
She has had only 3 short weeks to figure out her new World.
I’d go sloooooooowly with her - the fact that she’s experimenting with approaching you in the stalls & can be led is good.
IIWY, I’d crosspost this in the Sporthorse Breeding forum.
Lots of peeps there with a long history of raising babies.
She has had only 3 short weeks to figure out her new World.<br>
I’d go sloooooooowly with her - the fact that she’s experimenting with approaching you in the stalls & can be led is good.<br>
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IIWY, I’d crosspost this in the Sporthorse Breeding forum.<br>
Lots of peeps there with a long history of raising babies.
Entirely normal foal behavior. Is there someone who has raised foals before who can help you?
Once she starts to shed she will learn to love human attention. Just find her itchy spots and you are golden.
I agree with Laurierace and enjoytheride, this is typical foal behavior and once she is older she will be more confident and willing to accept physical contact.
I would caution you, that this is a horse not a puppy!
From day one the rules that apply to full grown horses apply to foals. You don’t want this baby in your lap, in your space, chewing on your clothes, and sucking on your fingers. That’s all very cute but leads to behavior that is punished later in life.
Let the foal bond with her mother, and give them their space.
As to the kicking, try to stop putting her in situations where she feels the need to kick. Know that if she does you went too far, too fast, too soon, with her.
It would do this foal and her mom a world of good if they could have other mare/foal pairs to socialize with. Some insecure mares really thrive a herd, and their babies benefit from seeing how other individuals react.
And know also, that a portion of temperament is inherited, and hard wired for life. That is why reputable breeders try to select horses, mares in particular, of superior temperament, (among other important traits) to use for breeding.
Take more time to let her get friendly. Fillies usually are a bit more stand-offish than colts.
I would NOT get down low with a kicker, your head is right in line with hoof flight when you are that short! BAD idea.
You may want to try ignoring the filly, see how that does. Tie Mom up, groom on her, let baby approach you while working around the mare. Pat baby as it goes by without forcing attention on her. Think about the house with a dog or cat who ALWAYS goes to bother the person that ignores it, doesn’t care for animals! Other animal lovers visiting too, try to pet him, but he ONLY wants to be by the person who doesn’t want him!
These things she exhibits, run, kick, hide behind mom, are survival traits, bone deep, not aimed at you particularly. Predators go after foals, easiest targets in a herd, so Baby NEEDS to kick when surprised, it might save her life in the right setting. You have to work around that instinct, to get her accepting of you and it won’t happen overnight.
You need to know your mare, before turning her out with others. You don’t want foal injured as mare tries to escape or drive other horses away from her foal. We had a mare who would try to damage any horse in with her and foal. This strong protection instinct lasted 6weeks or more, before she would quit being so bad. These were horses she lived with at all other times, knew them for YEARS. She just was a dominant horse with strong mothering instincts. When we did put someone in with her, it was a FAST horse who could outrun the mare. They would graze apart for a while, several days or a week or more, before being friends again, letting foal meet the new horse.
Not all mares are the same, but you don’t want anyone getting hurt putting mare and foal out with others. Another mare we had didn’t care anything about her foal. She had a friend put in with her quickly, so she would not run the fence and exhaust the foal. 2nd old mare turned into his true Mom, he hung with her all the time except when hungry. Old mare kept him close, bit him for bad acting, swatted his flies, kept watch over him. His dam grazed and acted like a single horse. We didn’t breed her again, such a poor mother. We later wished we had, the colt turned out pretty wonderful, but she wouldn’t carry a foal by then.
Just keep up the daily work with foal, very short sessions, so it doesn’t feel trapped. She will improve with time, curiosity, learning things are not so scary.
What I have done with my babies, I hold a manure fork with the plastic tines down low (kick zone hgt) then I approach them from the front and run my hand down their back. If and when they kick out they get surprised and I don’t think that they associate it with my hand because my hand is independent and higher than the fork. It taught my foals fast that they did not want to kick out at me.
Likewise I teach all my horses to accept an occasional light prine prick because no one needs the thigh bruiser consequence, or a broken knee.
[QUOTE=pony grandma;8772353]
What I have done with my babies, I hold a manure fork with the plastic tines down low (kick zone hgt) then I approach them from the front and run my hand down their back. If and when they kick out they get surprised and I don’t think that they associate it with my hand because my hand is independent and higher than the fork. It taught my foals fast that they did not want to kick out at me.
Likewise I teach all my horses to accept an occasional light prine prick because no one needs the thigh bruiser consequence, or a broken knee.[/QUOTE]
I think this is a VERY BAD idea. You don’t need to poke holes in a foal, especially with a manure fork. GREAT way to get a hole with tetnus germs and other things in the baby! Manure from horses carries Tetnus, which is why everyone SHOULD keep up their Tetnus shots around a barn.
No one want to get a kick from their foal, but using even a plastic fork for self defense is asking for trouble, going to do damage to a foal.
I’ve never had that happen. I do see your point. Maybe I’ve never had one kick that hard. I would also be proactive to let the fork move with the action and not ream it to them. Also why I’d never do this with a steel tine fork.
Here is an excellent approach with TTouch done with a 3 week old foal.
I have never kept any of my mares stalled with their foals. They all had attached large paddocks so they could go in and out at will. Foals are high energy and keeping them stalled for long periods is not helping.
I would just add that, regardless of how many hundreds of years man has domesticated equines, they are still born basically wild. As Goodhors said, the kick is instinctual and almost all foals will do it at first when you touch their back or bum. That is where a mountain lion would land.
If you can stay low, scratch a lot on the neck and chest. Just be ready to move if she swings her butt around. When my foals were very new, we would do the arms around chest and butt and just hug. That helped a lot for them to get over fear.
I had to laugh at a dear friend, an experienced breeder, that got solidly kicked when he put a hand on a new foal’s rear end. He knew better!! Just be patient. Approach slowly and from the side, towards the shoulder. She will learn to trust and love being scratched.
I will add that I’ve never met an overly friendly baby that young. They are programmed to be terrified of everything but mom those first few weeks.
There was a rank little filly at one barn where I boarded my horse. She just didn’t want anything to do with people.
I did what Iberianfan said. Wrapped my arms around her and just held her quietly. It only took one hug and about 5 minutes and she was fine after that. It surprised the heck out of the very experienced barn owner/breeder.
But an old farmer showed me how to handle foals.
The local old time draft horse folk not only recommend the “hug”, they recommend carrying the foal at least once.
I avoid the “kick button” of a foal until they’re older. It’s just so programmed into them.
Personally, other than a few basics I think the most important thing for a foal to learn is how to be a horse. Turnout with buddies the same age and their moms.
Spend more time paying attention to mom. The more accustom the foal is to your presence the more accepting she will be. Ignore baby, let her learn to enjoy contact by seeing mom enjoy contact. Then, when baby is shedding and itchy, go in for scratches. 
